X-Rebirth Review

X-Rebirth? More like X-SHSD as in Should Have Stayed DEAD!

Space… the final frontier! For years PC gamers have craved for the return of space simulation games to explore distant galaxies, to trade and build their wealth and to upgrade their ships or purchase newer ones. This is the hope that we as gamers had in X-Rebirth. However that hope flew too close to a star and was obliterated by the intense heat and radiation.

The game clocks in at around 5+GB when installed which I found surprising as I was expecting it to be much larger. Anyway I fired it up and I went into the settings maxing out everything on the graphics tab. I was expecting it to blow me away since in the screenshots it looks absolutely beautiful, but I was stunned at how laggy the game was. I was getting under 30fps consistently so I tried changing graphic settings to lower values which made it marginally more playable, but still not quite good to be enjoyed. I have a gaming rig that pretty much runs all games at Ultra settings without problems, so I was kinda shocked when I saw the horrid frame rate I was getting.

The UI and control scheme are both the next major game breakers. The actual UI is devoid of any useful purpose. Flying to waypoints is a chore since there is no option to lock on to one or no easy way to navigate to it. Instead all you get is a yellow arrow inside a circle that points to where you should go. There is no minimap or galaxy map, just the little shitty yellow arrow.

Controlling the ship is also broken. I used my mouse and keyboard for navigation. Now you have the option of using only the mouse for flight but this is so twitchy and imprecise that makes it extremely painful to bear. Instead I just opted to use the keyboard for navigation and the mouse for clicking on waypoints and destinations. While approaching the first station I was instructed by the game to double click to dock, but I had to fly around the station twice before this became possible and there was no indication of where to clearly dock.

Getting into dogfights was also painful as the ship is nowhere near responsive enough for this to be enjoyable and exhilarating. To be honest the ship handles like a slow, heavy log. Another thing that didn’t make any sense was the locked way of travelling. Now in space there is not up or down but in X-Rebirth apparently they decided that space needs to have an up and down. I tried to roll the ship to fly upside down, but I was rolled back right side up as soon as I released the button. I had to try a few more times just to see if it was my fault or not. Also the A.I is bad, like really really bad. Bad design choices like these make this game unplayable!

There is also no multiplayer, let me just get that out of the way, NO MULTIPLAYER WHATSOEVER! There is no option to play online with the community or even with your friends. Each game is a stand-alone single-player-only universe with no way to interact with other players. Why was this decision even made, it defeats the purpose of so many gameplay mechanics. Why trade when there is no real reason to? What is the point of space credits when you are stuck with ONE ship for the entire game? You can’t buy a better ship so you are stuck with the one you have. There is also no 3rd person view of the ship. And the most annoying thing of all, you can’t even get up and walk around the tiny ship.

The story is also bad and quite laughable if I can add. A kind hearted stranger rescues this mystery girl who was just floating in a remote part of space only to get caught up in a massive conspiracy. LAME! We have all played that game many times before, but that is not the main reason why people buy these types of games. People buy these games cause of the freedom they expect, cause of the space exploration, cause of the cool and beautiful planets/stars/nebulae/galaxies etc. available to explore. People buy these type of games cause they expect cool ships, those that they dreamed owning as children, they expect engaging space combat and outstanding dogfights. But when the core mechanics are so utterly broken how can people even consider buying X-Rebirth?

Bottom Line: This latest version in the X series of games is a massive letdown for long time fans of the series and for fans of space sims in particular since we have not had a major entry in the genre in quite a while. I was actually looking forward to playing this game until the long awaited Star Citizen came out but my wait will continue and I hope that the Star Citizen team is looking and taking notes from this as what not do to. I cannot, in good faith, recommend this game and truthfully I played this for about 45mins before I had enough. Sure the insane amount of bugs this game has can be fixed with a few patches, but poor design choices are with you forever!

X-Rebirth was reviewed on a PC. X-Rebirth is now available on Steam.

This review is also on http://duuro.net/x-rebirth-review/ check me out there and like the page

Review Overview

Story - 2

Graphics - 4.3

UI - 1.4

Gameplay + Controls - 1.5

2.3

Just Don't

Summary : X-Rebirth? More like X-SHSD as in Should Have Stayed DEAD!

Tablet Wars 2011

2011 is the year of the tablet with most of the major manufacturers coming out with tablets its easy to get confused and befuddled as to which tablet to choose so I’m here to help you sort through the clutter and fanboyism/fangirlism and get to the cold hard facts.

First thing is first there are three (3) main camps that folks are rallying around and these are IOS, Android and Windows there are more than three OSes out there such as QNX, WebOS, and the up-coming Linux OS for tablets. The reason I have left out these OSes is the lack of support and interest their respective companies seem to have in them so they will not be discussed for the rest of this article (well maybe in another article).

Lets start off with the IPad and IOS while not the first out of the gate it has the distinct privilege of being the most commercially successful and recognizable of the lot, it paved the way for the tablets we see now to be accepted by the community at large and not to be seen as an obscure piece of tech that only  the geekiest among us desire. The beauty of IOS is it’s simplicity, there is one physical button, a home screen and a menu which presents access to all your apps as well as the settings in one menu. Navigation is fluid and controls are easy enough to grasp. Its simplicity is also its weakness, the reins of the device are never truly given over to you, you are essentially being locked in a beautiful garden, its nice there and everything you need is provided but you are still very much locked in.

Android on the other hand is an amusement park with lots of different exits the only catch here is that in order to leave through one you have to have a little technical skill or at least be able to read and follow instructions very well, but even if you don’t leave you are still in an amusement park with lots of different things to do and see. Even with an unrooted device the level of customization is still staggering, to the point that no two devices can really look the same, from changing wallpapers and ring-tones to downloading icon and skin packs. If you get into the rooted side of things then the possibilities really open up with different versions of the OS that groups or individuals have created many of which are better than the stock OS or at least have features baked in that are not included ion the stock OS.  

Windows on the other hand is a relative unknown at this point since we have to wait for Windows 8 to actually show up but its Windows and everyone will pretty much be familiar with it. Right now it is a mixed bag with so many persons already on the Android and IOS and with Windows historically being such a heavy OS I have to wonder what is is gonna be like on smaller processors, I am looking at the incredibly dull performance of netbooks and I am left to wonder if their tablets will be more of the same.

Who runs the world? Apps

Apple is the king of the Apps heap for the moment with about half a Million apps and Android has well over 100000 but all numbers aside most of this is fluff, casually browsing the different app stores the number of actually useful everyday apps is shockingly low. How many calculators, tom the talking cat apps does someone really need, the fact is that any really useful apps that appear on one platform usually turn up on the others given enough time. There are only a handful of apps for the Windows platform so not much to discuss there yet.

Gaming

Mobile gaming is huge for both casual and hardcore gamers. Casual gamers have the likes for simple puzzle based games, tower defence, and platformers but nothing really to attract the hardcore crowd until now, with studios like Rockstar releasing GTA on the Android and IOS platform we are witnessing a shift in the types of games available to the masses. By far the most exciting thing to me are the emulators, I can play old and new classics on my tablet sure the touch screen is a little wonky but I that is easily remedied with a bluetooth controller (which I purchased from gamestop) So now I can play FF7 and Tenchu (I own both on disc already) on my tablet without missing a beat. Windows could be a bit more exciting in that arena with the rumoured ability to load up Xbox games, and since it is windows I foresee Steam making huge profits on this platform.

The future

Android’s future is looking bright with the coming of ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) which will unite the OS and end fragmentation, the new quad-core processors which promise even zippier speeds and more horsepower to properly deal with those power hungry apps. The IPad 3 is coming probably next year with a rumoured dual-core processor, better camera and improved display, of course this is all speculative at this point. Windows is a mystery at this point but I would imagine, tight Bing integration, xbox live integration and tiles, its really wait and see but 2012 is definitely gonna be another big year for tablets.

The choice

Which one should you pick well that is really up to you and what your preferences are there are differences between the platforms so your best bet is to try before you buy, don't rely sole on reviews and reviewers can also have their biases, also watch a lot of video reviews so you can get a better sense of the device but hands on testing is the best so if you can get in a store that has one on display or better yet tell them to take it out of the box so you can test then you should do that.

 

Review: Razor Ultimate BlackWidow Mechanical Keyboard

Well they say the best place to start is at the beginning so I would like to welcome you to my News and Reviews blog, to jump right into it my first review will be of the Razor Ultimate Blackwidow Mechanical Keyboard.

My first attraction to this keyboard was the fact that Razor uses mechanical switches instead of the cheaper gel based keyboards that the majority of pc users are accustomed to. As I carefully unboxed this massive (and weighty) keyboard I had to stand back and marvel at the design of it , than an immediate panic took me as I looked at the super glossy finish which was the first flaw that I immediately found, while beautiful to behold it was a fingerprint magnet. Nevertheless I pushed on and spent a few minutes (about 10) examining the braided cables which felt durable and of very high quality. The usb cable was long enough to reach to the back of the pc and still allow some room for movement at the end of the cable you will find two usb plugs and 2 audio jacks (headphone and mic), the second audio jack is used to connect the on-board usb 2.0 port which would have been a little more useful if it featured 2 ports instead of one, but still a nice little feature.

After connecting the keyboard, downloading and installing the latest drivers and software I fired up the customization utility and was pleasantly surprised by the sheer number of customizations that could be made to have this peripheral conform to your lifestyle and pc usage habits. Photoshop junkies will love this keyboard the ability to program macro keys is phenomenal, MMO gamers will also find great benefit in assigning macro keys and even in everyday usage once you get the hang of it assigning macros can put an end to many tedious tasks you perform daily.

After using this product for a few days I am getting the hang of it the layout is only slightly different from what I am used to namely because of the additional macro keys to the left key click feel super solid and the clickity clackity sound of the keys actually become pretty rhythmic while typing, the keys themselves feel great and do not require you to jam down on them to get button presses to register, there is ample resistance to the keys and also while typing you will notice that the characters on the keys are not printed on more like etched on there so there is a feeling that it will not rub off over time.

If you browse on over to the Razor website you will notice that there are two variants to the BlackWidow line the first is called the Blackwidow Mechanical Keyboard and the other is dubbed the Ultimate, now what makes these two very different is three things namely the USB hub, the headphone/mic pass through and the backlighting.

We now come to addressing the backlighting of the Ultimate, I had always thought of backlit keyboards as a gimmick, something totally unnecessary but with the state of the Jamaican economy and the heavy taxation that the Jamaica Public Service expects us to pay for electricity I have to try to conserve as much energy as possible so individually backlit keys are a great asset to have when you game in the dark whether to save a little money on your bills or not to disturb your significant other while they sleep. The BlackWidow has three levels of backlight intensity and they range from low, medium to high but most people should be able to suffice on the medium setting as it is plenty bright and coupled with the light from your monitor sound provide more than enough lighting for your typing/gaming needs, but what if you have friends over for the first time and you need to further show off your new keyboard well click on the fourth setting which will give a pulsing light to wash over their obviously now jealous eyes. The audio pass-through as I have discovered is also vital when you are living with someone as they may not appreciate the sound of explosions, bullets whizzing by or even your music at 3am (weirdo's right ). This keyboard is also excellent for the “hardworking” university student who has that final 14 page paper to pound out and hand in by 8am the next morning. The super smooth and pleasant typing experience on this keyboard coupled with the excellent back-lit keys, usb hub and audio pass-through make this an excellent keyboard for anyone who spends more than a couple of hours in front of their machine the only deterrent is the price which starts from $103 +s&h on amazon to anywhere north of $120 that is a lot to pay for just a keyboard but then again this isn’t just any old keyboard.

Pros : Excellent build quality, great typing and gaming experience, back lit keys are drool-worthy, USB 2.0/audio pass-through offer ease of accessibility

Cons : glossy finger print magnet, some awkward positioning of keys and no option to change backlit colors